WALTER GOOD
"I will continue to exercise as long as I can move my arms and use my hands!" said Walter Good. I had asked Walter who is 76 years of age on the calendar and looks about 56, how many more years he thought he would continue to exercise.
"In fact," explained Walter, "I will never retire from running my business and no matter how old in years I get, I won't give up exercise with the weights. Age is no excuse not to exercise with weights, you just have to use common sense. Forget the cheating and dozens of sets. Work within YOUR capacity, enjoy your exercise and it will keep you in top condition. Most of all use good form and make up a routine that you will look forward to doing.
"After my day's work in the shop I rest for a short time and have my evening meal. Then in the evening three times a week I go down to my gym and take a good workout. It is a small price to pay for good health and strong muscles. I see so many men come in here buying equipment for their son or nephew in such bad shape they desperately need exercise themselves!"
When it comes to diet Walter eats a 175 pound clean and press followed by oh those damnable wrong page continuation numbers in these bloody mags. When it comes to diet Walter eats a very natural diet. When I asked him about vitamins and his food, he replied, "I do take some vitamins such as C and E but the trouble is I forget to take them or a full range of vitamins most of the time. I get so busy here in the machine shop that I forget to take them! I enjoy my work. The greatest riches a man can have is to be happy with his work and look forward to each day. But back to the subject of nutrition. I eat natural foods and avoid all white flour products, sugar, salt and junk food. If you are careful and eat natural foods, huge amount of vitamins are a waste of money unless you have a health problem and need to take them for that reason."
"Here in the farm area of Pennsylvania there is so much wonderful food grown and sold at roadside stands you have no reason to eat boxed and canned junk. But I'm sorry to say the average person still goes out to the local supermarket and buys the stuff full of chemicals!"
Before I give Walter's exercise routine, I would like to give a little bit of life history about this famous Good brother.
Owing to an injury sustained at Normandy during WWII, to this day Walter can not raise his left arm over his head without help from the right. Special exercise over the years has made the shoulder strong, but he never regained his range of motion. He did not let it prevent him from doing a full range of other exercises!
An Olympian weightlifter, Walter and his two brothers, Harry and Bill Good gained worldwide fame as lifters, as well as exhibiting pure strength and acrobatic strength feats.
In 1954 Walter opened his machine shop and founded the Reading Barbell Company. He has been his own boss since then and is still going strong, working a six day week. Walter said, "I never want to retire."
Walter weighs 168 pounds at 5'6" and has maintained this bodyweight for the many years I have known him. Here is the later-stage routine of Walter Good, and as Walter said, "I try my best to get in three workouts a week. Once in a while because of my workload I have to skip a workout, but most of the time I'm faithful to my schedule.
Note: there are some weights given in some of the exercises but I won't be including them.
1) Lat machine pulldown - 3 x 10 reps.
2) Wall pulleys - 2-3 x 12.
3) Barbell curl - 2-3 x 12.
4) Barbell row - 3 x 10.
5) Straight-arm pullover - 3 x 15.
6) Stiff-legged deadlift - 3 x 12.
7) Roman chair situp - 2 x 15.
8) Regular situp - 2 x 15.
9) Flyes - 10 and 15 reps.
10) Side bend - 40 reps.
11) Leg press - 2 x 15.
12) Leg extension - 2 x 10.
13) Straddle lift - 2 x 8-10.
14) Wrist and forearm exercise, wrist curls or some pinch grip feats.
SIG KLEIN
Born in 1902, for over 60 years Sig has been a world famous bodybuilder, strongman, gym owner and publisher. He has graced the cover of many magazines and authored such books as "How to Bent Press." Sig for years ran the most famous gym in the world in New York City. It was Klein's Gym where every visiting strongman would head just as soon as they reached New York City. Sig, needless to say, is a walking encyclopedia of physical culture. He has known and called his friends most of the famous strongmen in the past sixty years from Warren Lincoln Travis to his very good friend John Grimek.
He trains three days a week and it takes him about 75 minutes to finish his routine.
Sig doesn't take any vitamins nor follow any special type of diet. As he said, "I eat anything I enjoy, but in moderation."
He uses both barbells and dumbbells and his routine is as follows:
1) Dumbbell concentration curl - 20 reps.
2) Side bend - 25 reps.
3) One arm press - 20 reps.
4) Bench press, two dumbbells - 2 x 35 reps.
5) Criss-cross, over chest, standing - 2 x 15.
6) Shoulder exercise, lower from above to shoulder height - 2 x 15.
7) Lateral raise - 2 x 15.
8) Situps on the floor - 25 reps, then no-weight twisters.
9) Triceps extension, one arm at a time - 25 reps.
10) Lateral raise on floor, straight arms - 20 reps.
11) Side bends again - 25 reps.
12) Barbell pullover, from thighs over to floor - 30 reps.
13) Leg ups (leg raise), straight legs - 55 reps
14) Wrist roller, standing on bench, roll to yourself and away - 3 sets.
15) Forward barbell raise, thighs to overhead - 25 reps.
16) Two dumbbell deep knee bend, heels raised - 25 reps.
17) Neck harness, sitting on bench, hands on thighs - 50 reps.
18) Dumbbell concentration curl again - 20 reps.
19) One arm triceps extension again - 20 reps.
20) Two dumbbell deadlift - 25 reps.
21) Two dumbbell shoulder shrug - 25 reps.
22) On bench, two dumbbells from thighs to overhead, then swing around back to thighs - 25 reps.
23) Criss-cross on bench - 2 x 25
24) Pushups, hands on benches, head out the window and big feet on the floor - 40 reps.
25) Calf raise - 50 reps.
Finish up with some muscle control.
JIM DOUGLASS
Jim is the man who first introduced the hula hoop to Peary Rader, what is now called the Magic Circle. Jim is 72 years of age and was born in 1911. He did farm work during his teen years, then worked in uranium mines and as the superintendent of the water department of the water department in Monticello, Utah. Jim started to lift weights to help cure the results of polio. He and his wife now run the library in Monticello.
Jim believes in vitamins and takes a full range of them from A to E. In fact, my own pet, Cindy, started to develop hip problems and couldn't climb the stairs coming up from my gym. The other Jim always has a pet or two around and when I told him my problem, he suggested adding a tablespoon of bone meal powder to her food. A month later after following his advice, Cindy was back climbing stairs. But that's another story so let's get back to Jim and his workout.
Stuff here about walking a dog.
His workouts consist of
Shrugs, using the Magic Circle - 2 x 30 reps
Squats - 5 x 5
Bench press - sets of 10
Bent row, head on a padded bench to prevent cheating
Zottman curls with kettlebells
Incline push presses
Hise rebounding one-arm presses
Some neck exercise
A little waist work.
Jim keeps his weight at about a steady 180 pounds. From the side he has a very deep chest from and the shrugs and squats.
As Jim explained when I asked him if exercise at his age gave him results, "I feel exercise helped me stay healthy during the time I was doing all those unhealthy jobs working out in all kinds of weather and in the bad conditions of the mines. Now it keeps me able to do anything I want to do and enjoy the outdoors, be able to work at a job I enjoy and not spend my life in a doctor's office."
MILO STEINBORN
When you mention the name Henry Milo Steinborn, the first thing that comes to mind is the squat. Milo could shoulder over 500 pounds and squat with it after lifting it on his shoulders without the help of the yet-to-be-invented squat racks.
Another story comes to mind about Milo as a prisoner of war. To relieve the boredom and get some exercise, he sawed up lengths of tree logs to make a barbell. I can never forget the fantastic photo of Milo in a classy suit back-lifting an elephant without using any platform! He just got under it and lifted it off the supports the elephant was standing on at the Chicago World's Fair.
Classy suit!
During his lifetime of work, Henry was a wrestler and top wrestling promoter for many years. Now living in Florida, Milo will be 91 in March, 1984.
His routine takes about 60 to 90 minutes, three times a week. He does leg raises and situps for 25 reps, squats with dumbbells and rides his exercise bike for a half hour. The rest of his routine is like Klein's, using medium weights for muscle tone and condition.
Many veterans of the iRON gAME who helped build it to where it is today value their privacy. They have little interest in publicity and much prefer to stay behind the scenes. None of those we talked with had used steroids, they were moderate in their use of vitamins and supplements, and tried to get as much natural food as possible. Some of them used the Single Set system while others used several sets, yet all of them received results for their efforts.
May you have many more healthy years ahead to toss up the iron.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
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